‘Broke My Heart’- Die-Hard NBA Fan Nick Kyrgios Narrates Childhood Incident With Father That Sealed His Tennis Fate

Nick Kyrgios has not played at the highest level often, but he has served us with some great tennis. Kyrgios is an entertainer by all means and has shown a fun side to the sport since he became an active player. While he has been competing in the sport for a long time, it was not always his goal to become a tennis player. He recently talked about why he put all his eggs in the tennis basket, which broke his heart.

Kyrgios was adept at more than one sport during his teen years. He has carried the love for that sport even now, as he is knee-deep in his tennis career. Things changed for him when he was a teenager, and we now have an Aussie player who has given us many memorable moments.

How Nick Kyrgios became a player in tennis

The young Nicholas in Canberra did not always dream of playing against the big three in the racket sport. The Aussie’ bad boy’ was an active child and played tennis and basketball during his teen years. He leaned towards basketball and dreamt of becoming an NBA icon one day. But he eventually chose to go for tennis, shattering his dream. In the ‘Hotboxin’ with Mike Tyson’ podcast, he discussed the deciding factor that led to his current career. 

After Mike Tyson asked why he wanted to play tennis, Kyrgios said, “Didn’t want to play at all. I, I played basketball when I was young, um, and then at 14, my dad kind of just, I was shooting Hoops. I remembered he just came outside, and he’s like, look, we’re gonna stop playing basketball, and we’re just gonna put all of our eggs in the basket of tennis, and it broke my heart.”

Although Kyrgios focused on tennis and left basketball behind that day, the sport still occupies a large place in his heart. He has dabbled in the sport when he is working to improve his professional life off-court and mentioned it many times when being his usual cheeky self.

Read More: Controversial Star Nick Kyrgios Expresses Love for His Favorite Sport With a Hefty Investment in $10 Million Worth Team

How basketball looms large in Kyrgios’ heart

Anyone who knows about Kyrgios is aware that the Australian player is infatuated with basketball. In an interview in 2021, he talked about how his first love was basketball. He also stated that he doesn’t love tennis the way he did basketball. This year, Novak Djokovic shared an Instagram post where he was shooting hoops with Andrey Rublev. Kyrgios decided to poke fun at the Serb and commented, “This is one thing I’d beat you in hahahhahahaha“.

His love for the sport also showed when he invested in Australia’s National Basketball League to co-own South East Melbourne Phoenix. He even found a way to comfort himself after his grandmother passed away through his NBA idols, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.

He continues showing his love for basketball several times throughout the year. Although it is too late for him to transition into another sport, he can still revel in his love and engage in the sport in any capacity he can.

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